Emerging

Pre-Expansion Considerations

Created on Tuesday, 04 November 2008 04:04 Last Updated on Friday, 06 May 2011 11:37 Published Date Written by Small Business Can Hits: 1667

Before you decide to expand you need to examine several aspects of the company, such as skills set, your operations, the financial situation, the rationale for the expansion and the exit. Use this below to prompt your thinking:
1. Skill set

Does your business have the skill set for expansion:

• Do you?
• What is your ability to delegate and empower your managers
• How Good¬†is your management team
• How good is your your staff
• What are the skills gaps and how are these filled (hire or training?)

2. Operations
Can your expansion plans deal with:

• Your capacity to deliver
• Your ability to maintain acceptable service levels
• Your control systems
• Your information systems

3. Money
How will you finance the expansion?

• Cash flow
• Lender
• Investor
• How much do you need?

4. Rationale for expansion
What is the rationale for expansion?

• Intuition
• Competitive analysis
• Costumer analysis

5. What is the end game?

• Succession
• Trade sale
• IPO